Twitter is interesting isn’t it – buggered if we understand it here at scoreboardpressure.com but we’re out there tweeting timidly.
Recently our friend The Armchair Expert @armchairfooty tweeted a photo of the scoreboard at Willunga.
Now Willunga is an important footy place. We were there last year…
Looking at the Willunga scoreboard again prompted Vin Maskell @scoreboardlife to tweet “Wonder who Charles Arthur was/is?” It was a good question when you consider the scoreboard is named after him. Well it turns out he was exactly what we dreamed he would be as this story published in the Goolwa-Victor Harbour community magazine Coast Lines points out…
Charles Arthur, who passed away 21 years ago, is still regarded as one of Willunga’s best-known and most-loved characters. He wasn’t an artist of note, from the wine industry – and they produce some amazing wine here – a philanthropist or even a football great.
One of his best mates, Rob “Barty” Bartel, spoke of how Charles was known for being at the footy oval working the scoreboard for the under 10s and remaining in darkness til the final siren of the main game.
“Charles was well known for loving a beer, alright, but the more he drank the more eloquent he spoke,” Barty said. “But everyone saw past his faults, and we’ve all got them. We just saw a bloke who did so much for others without any fuss, like forever walking his dog Nero and picking up rubbish along the streets because he loved this town so much.
“He gave so many of us a laugh just when we needed it most. You got what you saw in this bloke; it’s what he always thought about this town.”
Barty, and his mates, had a special plaque made to put on Charles’ gravesite on the 21st anniversary of his death next week. And some wonder why Willunga is special and no one wants to leave. “Yeah, I guess we’re a caring bunch at heart,” Barty said. “This is who we are.”
Scoreboard pressure 